I heart blasphemy. Electric Grill?

I love grilling. I love blasphemy. I hate berkeleying with a bunch of charcoal to cook 2 steaks, and therefore have always owned gas grills. Our current gas grill E36 M3 the bed, and I'm shopping for a new cheapy when I see "electric grills." Some of THE BEST barbecue I've ever had was cooked on with my homeboy's electric smoker. He swears by it. Easy to control temperature. Set it and forget it. In searching electric grills, I'm noticing combo electric grill/smokers. Anybody have any experience with these?

I realize I am typing in sentence fragments. I may have been drinking.

I've got one of these:

Masterbuilt Electric Smokehouse.

It does an outstanding job at BBQ. It will never be able to cook a steak.

For that I have one of these.

Charbroil Infrared.

It uses these for cooking grates.

It does as good a job at BBQ as the electric smoker. Does an outstanding steak, cooks hamburgers without bursting into flames and will even cook chicken without burning it. I LOVE this grill. The electric is sitting in my shop holding up my band saw.

Stop drinking and get a real grill.

I don't understand why charcoal is too much of a hassle.

charcoal grill: dump charcoal in chimney starter, put newspaper underneath, light. Wait 10-15 minutes. Dump charcoal in grill, put top grate on, cook.

gas grill: turn gas on, hit ignition button. Hit ignition button again. Hit it again. Curse at it and find the long matches to light it because the stupid piezo lighter is busted again. Light with match, wait 10-15 minutes for grill to heat up. Cook.

:)

Well, yeah, if you compare E36 M3ty gas grill with the best possible charcoal lighting scenario ever.

Problem with gas is that it produces too much H2O as a by-product of combustion. Not ideal for steaks. I end up heating the grill for 30 minutes on high (heavy cast grill) and essentially grilling the steak on the stored heat

I think charcoal would be a wash, but more maintenance and flare-ups to deal with.

The infra-red is interesting, never tried it, but if it works like the IR heater in my shop, I can vouch for how it heats solids!

codrus wrote: I don't understand why charcoal is too much of a hassle. charcoal grill: dump charcoal in chimney starter, put newspaper underneath, light. Wait 10-15 minutes. Dump charcoal in grill, put top grate on, cook. gas grill: turn gas on, hit ignition button. Hit ignition button again. Hit it again. Curse at it and find the long matches to light it because the stupid piezo lighter is busted again. Light with match, wait 10-15 minutes for grill to heat up. Cook. :)

If this is was a "which tastes better" argument, you'd win. I walk out, fire up my tiny $90 Gas grill (They make these big long lighters now!) and 5 minutes later, throw quality steaks (or chicken wings...which require constant turning) on it, and shut the valve off when I'm done.

When I was 20, and when I'm 60, charcoal was/will be cool.

Thanks for your input! It was incredibly helpful!

Toyman01 wrote: For that I have one of these. Charbroil Infrared.

I have the same one. I find the inserts need cleaning often if you lika the sauce (you lika the sauce?)

Not hard to do as they come apart. Otherwise it's a nice smallish basic gas grill. No side burner bs or other carp. I'll buy another when this one calfs out.

That being said, I'm liking these charcoal grills that look like big dinosaur eggs. Who has one of those? How are they? Tanks! :)

poopshovel wrote: I realize I am typing in sentence fragments. I may have been drinking.

A Hong? Who'd have guessed?

codrus wrote: charcoal grill: dump charcoal in chimney starter, put newspaper underneath, light. Wait 10-15 minutes. Dump charcoal in grill, put top grate on, cook.

I'm pretty sure Poop already knows how to light a fire

JoeyM wrote:

poopshovel wrote: I realize I am typing in sentence fragments. I may have been drinking.

A Hong? Who'd have guessed?

codrus wrote: charcoal grill: dump charcoal in chimney starter, put newspaper underneath, light. Wait 10-15 minutes. Dump charcoal in grill, put top grate on, cook.

I'm pretty sure Poop already knows how to light a fire

Yep, pretty sure that isn't the problem.

IT'S_BEAUTIFUL.

you boys aint right...

Tree stump?

It aint grillin if it aint burning.

I say go for it. I prefer and only use charcoal, but I enjoy making things more difficult than they should be.

novaderrik wrote: you boys aint right...

+1

...yep...

So I'll probably just do another $99 Charbroil job. They last about 3 years if cleaned regularly. Beats the E36 M3 out of the $400 job that lasted 5. I am definitely going to do the $60 electric smoker too. Seriously some of the best barbecue I've ever had was cooked on one of those things.

This electric smoker thingie is new and intriguing to me. I may have to check that out.

That said, I'm a charcoal man. Not really as hardcore as most though. I kinda like the process and ceremony of it. It takes forever to get going compared to the gas grills I grew up with, but I think I simply like the excuse to be outside drinking beer and staring at the sky while still being able to declare that "I'm doing something important here honey!".

We've had our Weber Genesis gas grill for about a decade now. It's actually the same grill Alton Brown has on his show, which earns me more cool points. Still works flawlessly and gets the grates red hot so you get a good sear on your steaks.

I want an electric smoker so bad...

Matt B wrote: This electric smoker thingie is new and intriguing to me. I may have to check that out. That said, I'm a charcoal man. Not really as hardcore as most though. I kinda like the process and ceremony of it. It takes forever to get going compared to the gas grills I grew up with, but I think I simply like the excuse to be outside drinking beer and staring at the sky while still being able to declare that "I'm doing something important here honey!".

This is the one my buddy has.

His only complaint was that there was nothing to keep the wood from being in direct contact with the heating element, so he cut apart an old oscillating fan and used it for a rack.

They brine their meat in a bigass cooler, load the smoker with chips and whatever they're cooking, plug it in, go out on the boat all day, and when they get home, enjoy berkeleying amazing BBQ.

His wife teaches culinary arts or whatever at the local community college. Everything they make is awesome.

The answer for me was Weber Spirit 210, Weber Kettle and a E36 M3ty copy of a Weber Smokey Joe.

The spirit gets used most, the kettle on some weekends when the weather is nice and the joe is for tailgating/beach/camping. The joe copy will be replaced by a real weber eventually but it keeps on going and was only $2 from Sports Authority.

Gonna have to look into these electric smokers though...

Dad uses a cookshack electrical smoker. Works awesome, good prices, and dead nuts reliable. I think he got it at Cabelas?

And all you smoke heads don't hate, but I seriously have never had better BBQ than what comes out of that thing. My dad's got it dialed in and I'm not just being a fanboi, my diet consists of about 90% BBQ/grilled meats. He's got about 40 years of experience though. He's been teaching me a bit the past few years, but he's had me on grill duty since I was about 7-8 years old.

As for grills, I've learned that I can grill whatever on whatever as long as I learn where the hotspots are. I honestly don't like grilling unless it's with propane, everything else adds a weird flavor to it, almost like a smoker, but not in a good sense. Last grill I had, I pulled out from behind the dumpster at my old place, scrubbed it down with degreaser and scotch brite pads, hit it with some high temp paint I had laying around, changed the battery out on the igniter, and was good to go. Probably one of the better grills I've ever used.

My FIL was not into charcoal, and afraid of gas, so he bought an electric grill.

I laughed.

When it broke down, they bought a replacement and were going to throw it out. I was between grills, so I took it, fixed it (bypassed the T-stat), and used it for about 10 years. It's not the same as charcoal, or gas, but the convenience factor makes up for it. It was so easy. Put food on grill, close lid, walk away. No flare ups, no gas to fill and no fires to start, and nobody ever complained about the taste of the food.

It was this

poopshovel wrote: This is the one my buddy has. His only complaint was that there was nothing to keep the wood from being in direct contact with the heating element, so he cut apart an old oscillating fan and used it for a rack. They brine their meat in a bigass cooler, load the smoker with chips and whatever they're cooking, plug it in, go out on the boat all day, and when they get home, enjoy berkeleying amazing BBQ. His wife teaches culinary arts or whatever at the local community college. Everything they make is awesome.

I have that smoker. I use two pans for my wood chips. One with three two inch bolts to keep pan off the element and one with no bolts to for a good, heavy smoke.

Matt B wrote: This electric smoker thingie is new and intriguing to me. I may have to check that out. That said, I'm a charcoal man. Not really as hardcore as most though. I kinda like the process and ceremony of it. It takes forever to get going compared to the gas grills I grew up with, but I think I simply like the excuse to be outside drinking beer and staring at the sky while still being able to declare that "I'm doing something important here honey!".

+1